instyme hosting

it appears that the OP got unsolicited emails as they posted here because they didn't know who the company was..... So, I'm willing to bet that your own emails landed you on the blacklists..

Updating databases - it's normal.

Here's some more info:

It appears that your AWS IP's are listed on sorbs.

You are jumping to a really odd conclusion. I came here because I got an email from an affiliate. I know several marketers are promoting a $1 trial. I am sure many people learned about this offer from affiliates that they had purchased from previously. I certainly did NOT get spam from Nick.

Personally I think you are being very negative and insulting and not helpful at all.

Ok, I have some time. I'm going to set this straight. You said "That's not how PTR works, this doesn't make sense??"

I never said that's how PTR works. I was talking about how Amazon sets up and uses their IP's and their steps to whitelisting them.

If you have ever worked with Amazon, you will know that they have elastic IP's that they allow you to provision to different instances inside the Amazon cloud system. Amazon's IP's are probably ALL listed on SORBS DUHL lists, which are blacklists enabled to catch large groups of IP's at a fell swoop, to discourage those who dynamically get IP's from using them to send spam.

As mentioned by the DUHL FAQ:

Therefore, the SORBS DUHL is a list of net blocks where the address space is assigned dynamically to users and hosts regardless of the actual method of connecting those users and hosts to the network.

This makes sense, as they are allowing their IP's to be dynamically used to the general public for essentially whatever they want to do with them.

Now, All Amazon IP's have their own PTR record when you provision them within AWS. Amazon owns the IP, therefore it has a PTR that looks like ns-15.awsdns-01.com as set by Amazon.

Amazon limits email sending from it's IP's as well. They don't want people firing up EC2 instances and shooting off tons of spam with them. That's why they have request forms in place, where you can 1. request the email limits lifted, 2. have them whitelist the IP at the appropriate places, 3. set the PTR and reverse DNS record for that IP. I showed you that web form earlier.

Ok, Let's keep going.

If you use one of the IP's that someone else 'grabbed' that are tied into Insty.me, you will see [205.251.192.15 is listed on 1 Black List.]

After looking into this IP, you will see that yes, it is on the DUHL listing as an IP that falls into a dynamic range and therefore blocked on the SORBS DUHL listing.

Network Tools: DNS,IP,Email

You won't see that IP listed in any other listing, but yes, it's on the DUHL.

Now, some may see that IP and assume "Insty.me must be blocked because that IP is on a blacklist". But no, that's not the case.

That IP (205.251.192.15) belongs to ns-15.awsdns-01.com which is what Amazon calls Route53. Route 53 is Amazon's multi-regional, multi-failsafe DNS service that does a GREAT job in RESOLVING NAMES. It's purpose is NOT to send, nor will it ever be to send email.

Insty.me's nameservers are set to:
205.251.192.15, 205.251.197.97, 205.251.199.239, and 205.251.194.213

which happens to be the 4 ip's that belong to Route53.

Now, since those IP's are listed in the DUHL, does that mean my domain has a problem??

No, absolutely not.

Now, for DNSBL, you can see here that our domain is not in Spamhaus's DNSBL:
The Spamhaus Project - Blocklist Removal Center Results

You can also see that the IP address that insty.me resolves to isn't on any block lists either:
Network Tools: DNS,IP,Email


On top of ALL of this, like I said before, our Transactional and mailer emails are sent through Amazon's SES service, which has their own IP's that aren't tied to Insty.me's domains. It's similar to what email sending services like Aweber and Get Response do. (where the email header will say sent by Amazonses).


So, by the looks of it, it doesn't look like the domain name "insty.me" is listed, and it could just very well be that:


I hope this helps.

Overall:

Look, I appreciate the comments and the fact that most Warriors are just trying to look our for each other. I get that. I do the same thing. The only thing I don't like is being accused of trying to swindle people, or that I'm working hard to 'cover up' anything that might be wrong. This is not the case at all.

I know I'm not perfect, I mean Heck, even the HUGE hosting companies aren't perfect

If there is ANYTHING that could lead to sub-par performance of a company that I care DEEPLY for and have worked very hard for, I definitely want to know more about it, but at the same time, if I say that I have looked into it, then please believe me, that I have looked into it, I have had our team look into it as well.

There is no reason to try to drum up negativity or try to do damage to anyone in all this.

Again, thanks so much, and I hope everyone has a wonderful night.

Nick